South Tahoe police increase DUI enforcement

Avoid the 6 El Dorado County DUI Task Force will join nearly 10,000 other law enforcement agencies nationwide in support of an intensive crackdown on impaired driving Aug. 19–Sept. 5, known as “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.”

DUI-driver’s license checkpoints, multi-agency DUI task force deployments and local roving DUI patrols are schedule locally in partnership with law enforcement nationwide during the summer-Labor Day campaign.

Impaired driving is a serious crime. In 2009, 10,839 people died in crashes in which a driver or motorcycle rider was at or above the legal limit, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The age group with the highest percentage of alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes was the 21-24.

“All too often, innocent, law-abiding people suffer tragic consequences and the loss of loved ones due to this careless disregard for human life. Because we’re committed to ending the carnage, we’re intensifying enforcement during the crackdown. Since twice as many alcohol-impaired accidents occur over the weekend and four times as many occur at night, we will be especially vigilant during these high-risk times when impaired drivers are most likely to be on our roads,” South Lake Tahoe police Sgt. Shannon Laney said in a statement.

Violators will face jail time, loss of their driver’s license, or being sentenced to use ignition interlocks.

The program is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.